GOLDEN Square iced Saturday’s MyJet Oval match against Castlemaine with an eight-goal to nil first quarter onslaught.
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Corey Jones led the Bulldog blitz with four goals as the Square used the breeze favouring the Wade Street end to devastating effect.
Jones should really have taken his personal tally to seven by the first change, but three set shots in the time-on period faded right and he went to the huddle with 4.3 to his name.
The Bulldogs added 8.15 in the concluding three quarters, while the Magpies booted 3.5 as Square coasted home 16.21 (117) to 3.7 (25).
Golden Square held control of the midfield battle with acting captain Jack Geary, Che Walls, Jack Daley (three goals) and Ben Connelly in great touch.
Geary, in particular, was outstanding. His passing by foot and hand was exemplary and he set up countless forward moves.
The Magpies looked a lot better in the second term, almost keeping up with the Square on the scoreboard.
Key forward Nick Oliver landed Castlemaine’s first goal at the 10-minute mark, while Tom Godsell screwed home their second with 23 minutes gone.
In between the Magpies’ majors, Daley, James Molinaro and Shane Harris had booted Square goals to hand the home side a 58-point half-time lead.
The last half was a formality. The Bulldogs added 4.7 in the third term, yet managed just a single major in the last to defender Jon Coe - a goal which evoked great celebrations from his team-mates.
Castlemaine’s players led by Zach Hansford and David Stephens kept running hard as they attempted to create chances. Simple handling errors and turnovers were costly, although, their marking, particularly in defence, was solid.
Golden Square coach Nick Carter was pleased that the 92-point win would boost the club’s percentage, but added there were parts of the match where his players hadn’t controlled the game as much as he would have liked.
“Still, we started well with the intensity we wanted.
“And Ben Connelly playing probably his first senior game had 29 touches, which was impressive. Overall, the guys took another step forward, which is important going into the game against Strath Storm next week,” Carter said.